When you make the decision to bring a canine companion into your home, you have made an important choice that can drastically change your life. You will have a walking partner, constant companion, someone to greet you when you come home and a furry friend to comfort you during trouble times. However, before you jump right in and bring that cute puppy home you should learn all you can about the various venues in which you can obtain your newest family member.
Private Rescue
A rescue is a private, non-profit organization typically run by all volunteers. The dogs they acquire are often times surrendered to the organization because the owners can no longer care for him. Rescued dogs can be already trained and well mannered or they can come with their own luggage and behavioral problems. Each and every dog is completely unique with his own history.
Within a rescue, dogs are almost never boarded or kept in kennels. Instead, volunteers will allow a dog to stay in their homes until the suitable home for him has been found as the permanent solution. This is actually a fantastic way to care for unwanted dogs so that they can live in a home environment before going to their new families. A rescue will have a greater understanding about the personality, needs, and any problems both behaviorally and health wise that each dog has in comparison to a shelter.
The downside to adopting from a rescue is that you must thoroughly do your research on each organization before deciding to adopt from them. While all rescues should be licensed non-profit entities, they are not always as they seem. Learn as much as you can about them, ask questions and talk to their volunteers as well as past adopters. A dog’s veterinary care should be fully cared for including spay or neuter surgery, heartworm testing, all vaccinations and any current health problems. If a rescue skips on any of these, move on!
Shelter
Shelters are usually one of the top places to adopt your new pet from. Puppies, adults and seniors all grace the over crowded shelters in search of a new home. Pets come in as strays, surrendered by owners, transferred from other shelters and sometimes even confiscated from neglect or abuse cases. This does not mean that the dogs are at all bad or undesirable! Just like with rescues, the dogs in a shelter can be well trained, already housebroken and sweet or they can be a totally wild card.
Because shelters house their dogs in kennels and the animals get minimal time spent with them, their training and personality is mostly unknown to shelter workers. When you adopt, you really don’t know what you will come home with as dogs in these stressful environments never show their true face. A dog that seems aggressive may be a big sweetheart in defensive mode or that small dog curled in the corner could be a real social butterfly that is simply scared.
Shelters also take care of all vetting that a dog needs, and their adoption fees are usually much smaller than that of private rescues. This makes adopting a dog from a shelter more attractive to most people. While most adoptions work out perfectly and the dog lands in an ideal forever home, sometimes the dog just does not fit a certain lifestyle or family and ends up being brought back. This is due to the environment in which the dog is kept, as no one was able to really get to know him before placing him up for adoption.
Wherever you decide to get your next best friend from, it is important that you spend as much time with the individual dog long before you bring him home. You must make sure that he is the right dog for you, your family, your living environment and even your budget. Pick the right dog to avoid having to relinquish him later on to the shelter or rescue he came from and the two of you will enjoy a life long friendship.
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